[3] The company made the change in order to compete with nearby papers such as the New Hampshire Union Leader and Concord Monitor.
The new owner was Sample News Group of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, publisher of multiple daily and weekly newspapers across the northeastern United States,[4] including The Eagle Times of Claremont, New Hampshire.
Under Sample News Group, The Citizen was managed by Eagle Printing & Publishing of Claremont.
Sample News Group suspended publication of The Citizen with its edition of September 30, 2016, citing rising costs in printing and production and inability to find a buyer for the newspaper.
[5] At the time it ceased publication, the Citizen Weekender on Saturdays featured a Local section, which included the History section, a look back at Laconia from 125, 100, 75, 50, 25, and 10 years ago with articles from local newspapers of that time, as well as an old photograph of an area in Laconia (including Weirs Beach and Lakeport) with a description below it, then a current picture of the same area with an updated view.